The Nutcracker
by BigTimeRusherr13
Summary: Logan gets a Nutcracker given to him on Christmas Eve and it's that night when he falls into a world where he finds himself fighting for a kingdom he had never even known. He learns that anything is possible, whether it be battling evil or falling in love with a prince. And will he find who he really is along the way? Slash:)
1. Aunt Nicole

**So this is the second Christmas story I have going on right now! My other one (if you want to read it) is called **Twelve Days of Christmas **and I would love it if you checked it out! I know you probably think I should finish that one first and you also think its weird that Im doing two xmas stories in November BUUUUUUUT this is the third story Im doing so updates wont be so regular and I wanna get the xmas ones done by the end of the year! And I couldn't wait! I really wanted to this story ever since the idea came into my head when I was watching the Nutcracker earlier! IM JUST SO EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS!**

**Oh and by the way, I'm giving Logan a brother in this... I could have used Kendall instead of Logan and used Katie(which would make things easier) but in every story I've done so far, Kendall has always been in the pairing. I wanted to do something different!**

**Now, on with the story...**

…

Christmas was always more organized and precise rather than fun and festive in the Mitchell household. They never did anything that comes with Christmas like decorating the tree or baking cookies or putting up the lights. No, they made the staff do that. It's not that they thought they were too good for Christmas just because they lived in a mansion, owned many sports cars and had more than enough designer clothes, they just believed that people of their class shouldn't bother themselves with such petty tasks as putting an ornament on tree. Well, that's how _most _of the Mitchells felt.

Logan _loved _Christmas! Everything about it, from the angel on top of the tree right down to the last crumb on a gingerbread house. He would always ask the staff to do all the decorating when his family were out so he could help and not risk his parents catching him. They'd be very angry if they even caught him talking to one of the maids and not requesting a drink or complaining about how his clothes weren't ironed right. But Logan wasn't like that. That was his parents and his little brother, not him. He was nothing like his snobby family.

So, knowing that Mr. Mitchell didn't finish work until early evening and Mrs. Mitchell was out with her youngest son, Logan thanked the maid when she strolled through his open doorway with clean sheets in her arms.

"You're very welcome, Logan." Kelly said with a smile. Logan loved Kelly! Her mother was one of the few maids that have been working for his parents longer than his been alive so she had been around since the day he was born -although, she was only a teenager then- and Logan's mom thought it would be easier to hire her as a nanny rather than interview a bunch of old women with gum in their purses that could rot his teeth. Logan looked at her as an older sister and sometimes a loving mother, something he wasn't used to having.

"Do you want help?" He asked from where he sat on the small leather couch in the corner of his room.

"No thanks, sweetie." She said with a smile, placing the clean sheets aside as she shooed the dog off the bed. When Logan was thirteen, his mom was gracious enough to get him a brown Newfoundland puppy which Logan named Biscuit. What she didn't see coming was that he was going to grow into a big dog and when Logan turned eighteen this year, she started talking about giving the dog away. But Logan would never let that happen.

"But if you really want to do something," Kelly said as Biscuit sat on the couch next to Logan. "My mom is about to start making a gingerbread house. She would love some help." Logan instantly brightened. He always enjoyed helping Mrs. Wainwright with anything because she would always tell stories about her and her husband and all the things they saw when they road tripped through America in the 80's. With a smile, he jumped to his feet and walk-ran out the room after saying goodbye to Kelly and Biscuit.

He found Mrs. Wainwright in the kitchen, setting up to put the house together. She lifted her head when she heard Logan stroll in. "I was wondering when you'd show up." She laughed gestured for him to come over.

"You could have told me you were doing this now." Logan said, taking the oven mitts from her and going to the oven to pull out the already baked gingerbread.

"I told Kelly to tell you." She said with a shake of the head.

"Well you know what's she's like." He joked, putting the tray on the kitchen counter before going back to get the second. "Why didn't you just tell me?"

"I haven't had the time to find you! I've been so stressed out with preparing everything for your aunt and-"

"She's coming for Christmas?" Logan said, excitement evident in his voice as he placed the second tray down. Every Christmas, Mrs. Mitchell would invite her sister, Nicole, to stay with them until New Years but she would always leave on Boxing Day because she could never stay in one place too long. Nicole was a traveller and has seen probably everything but she would always say "there's so much more to discover, the world is only getting bigger and I plan on living every adventure it throws at me." Logan didn't believe the world was getting bigger, if anything it was getting smaller. But that didn't matter to him because he loved to hear the stories of her travels and about the people she met whether it be a poor boy on the streets or Morocco or a king of a country that wasn't big enough to be on the map.

But Logan was starting to worry that she wasn't going to show up this year. Usually she would arrive a couple of days before the twenty-fifth but it was Christmas Eve now and she still hadn't arrived. He was starting to think it was due to the loud argument she and his mother had over the phone during the fall. Logan was overjoyed to find out that she was arriving.

"She certainly is." Mrs. Wainwright replied, rolling her sleeves up to her elbows. "She should be here a little while before dinner. So we have to hurry and get this finished so I can start on dinner and your parents should be home soon."

Logan sighed at the mention of his parents. It's not that he didn't love them, he did. It was just that sometimes they could be neglectful and always bring down his Christmas spirit. "Okay, let's do this."

…

Once Logan and Mrs. Wainwright finished with the gingerbread house and placed it on a high table in the living room so Biscuit wouldn't be able to reach it, the older maid shooed Logan off, telling him his mother would be arriving soon. So he decided to busy himself in the library. But he only spent ten minutes in there before his annoying little brother came running in, disturbing the peace, making their arrival clear.

What made things worse, last month he got a remote control helicopter and he loved to "accidentally" hit Logan with it. And that's how he knew the nine year old was home, when it collided with the back of his head while he read one of his favourite books.

"Donovan, what the hell?!" Logan yelled, dropping his book on the table and turned to face the annoying child.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He said, trying to play innocent but his snickering betrayed him. Logan couldn't be bothered with him today, he was in too much of a good mood for it to be ruined by him, so he ignored his annoying brother and walked passed him. After all, it was Christmas -well, Christmas Eve, but still- and it was a time for family and to show love for one another. But it was almost impossible to show love to a brother like Donovan. Logan wanted to strangle him most of the time.

"By the way," Donovan yelled as he ran to catch up to him. "Mom said you need to start getting ready because dad is going to be picking Aunt Nicole up from the airport on his way home from work so they'll be here in an hour."

"Okay, I'll be ready." Logan answered, heading for the stairs.

"And she said to shower too cause you reek." It was obvious those weren't the words Mrs. Mitchell used, she would say it in a more classy and a somewhat dignified way. That was just Donovan being the annoying brat he is.

Logan didn't take long in the shower, wanting to hurry and get ready for Aunt Nicole but also wanting to get clean as he belted out _Last Christmas _by Wham! Once he considered himself squeaky clean, he turned the shower off, wrapped a towel around his waist and went back to his room where Biscuit was lying on his bed. He had his clothes hung up on his tall bed-frame -Black designer slacks (although Logan couldn't remember what designer), a crisp white button up with a crimson red velvet vest. After grabbing a pair of boxer briefs and slipping them on, he hurried to get dressed while humming a little Christmas tune to himself.

When Logan had gotten his clothes ready before he got in the shower, he pulled out a dark green bow tie and left it on his bed, but now it wasn't there. He looked around the general area of where he left it but it wasn't anywhere to be found. "Where is it?" He muttered to himself and then he heard the familiar snickering of an annoying kid who was always around when something wasn't right. "Donovan!" He yelled, opening his bedroom door and there he was. "Where's my tie?" Logan said through gritted teeth.

Donovan shrugged. "Why you asking me?"

"I'm not playing!" Logan yelled. "Aunt Nicole got me that for my birthday! Now where is it?" He shrugged again and it only infuriated Logan more because he _knew _he had it on him. With that thought in mind, he quickly grabbed Donovan, falling to the ground when he struggled, and started to hurriedly search through his pockets.

"Let me go!" Donovan yelled continuously. "I'll tell mom!" He started to yell for mom but not for long because Logan soon let him go when he found his tie in his back pocket. They were both breathing heavy as Logan stood up and put his tie on.

"I've told you before, stay out of my room!" Logan told him sternly. Donovan only groaned and stormed off as Logan went back to his room to do his hair so it was spiked up in an almost classy way. He grabbed his loafers and sat on the edge of his bed before putting them on. Biscuit rested his head on Logan's lap, sensing the sudden mood change. Logan sighed and started to scratch behind his dog's ears. "He just gets me so mad, you know? With all these stupid pranks or just those petty things he does to get me so worked up! I try not to let him get under my skin but he's just so... Infuriating! I wish he was never-" Logan stopped himself before he could finish that sentence. Although he hated his brother at times, that was a horrible thing to even think, let alone wish. He sighed, "Why can't he just be normal?"

Biscuit made a little whiny noise in agreement that turned into a bark when he heard the front door open. He jumped off the bed and ran downstairs, excited to greet the new visitor. Logan smiled and followed in suit. The living room was where everyone was when he reached the bottom of the stairs. They were all greeting a blonde haired woman in a black knee-length dress and red tights.

"Aunt Nicole!" Logan exclaimed, excitedly. She turned and smiled a smile just as big as his. She opened her arms, waiting for a hug and he was quick to wrap his arms around his favourite aunt. Nicole was completely different to most aunts! She was young -only six years older than Logan himself- and she was adventurous, outgoing and, as much as he hated to admit it, she was so much more kind than his mother.

"I missed you!" He said into her shoulder. He only ever saw her on Christmas, not including the Skype calls once a month to let them all know that she was safe.

"I've missed you too!" She almost screeched in his ear and squeezed for emphasize. He pulled away with a laugh and looked at her closer. She really hasn't changed at all; perfect skin, crystal blue eyes, pale complexion and dark lips which were coated in red lipstick. "Oh my god, Logan! You've gotten so tall and you really gained some muscle this year! You're a grown man now."

Logan blushed as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "I haven't grown that much since you last saw me."

"I beg to differ." She laughed, running a hand through his hair, successfully messing it up. Logan laughed but pushed her hands away and quickly fixed his hair. "Oh someone's gotten touchy about their hair." She teased and Logan stuck his tongue out at her.

"So Nicole," Mrs. Mitchell said as she grabbed her arm and sat her down on the sofa. Donovan quickly took the seat next to her and Mr. Mitchell sat on his recliner, leaving Logan to sit on the footrest opposite his mom and aunt. "Where have you just gotten back from?"

"A small country just outside of China." She answered and Logan smiled. He had always wanted to go to China.

"What was it like there? What were the people like? Did you meet anyone special?" He eagerly asked, practically bouncing in his seat.

Nicole chuckled. "It was beautiful. The scenery was something out of this world! Oh Logan, you would have loved it! And there so much there! I sailed a junk, had my first rickshaw ride and I hiked the Great Wall of China!" The more Nicole spoke, the wider Logan's eyes got and his smile only got bigger. "And the people were so kind and welcoming, I was even invited to a party at the palace."

"Palace?" Logan asked, scooting a little closer to his aunt so he wouldn't miss a word. "Did you meet a prince?"

"I think that's enough of that." Mr. Mitchell said before Nicole even got the chance to answer.

"What? No! I want to hear Nicole's story!" Logan protested, sounding like a child.

"Don't talk back to your father, Logan." His mother scolded.

"Oh leave him alone, you two." Nicole told them before turning to face Logan again, ready to tell him the rest of the story but was interrupted again by his father.

"Well I would rather you stop filling Logan's head with your silly stories. You go running around all over the world rather than staying put like a _sensible _person and making out the world to be a wondrous place when it's just a slaughter house for the weak." Logan didn't appreciate the tone he used, he sounded so disgusted.

Nicole changed seats, sitting on the footrest next to Logan and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "There's a world full of adventures out there and Logan deserves to experience them all."

"He's not strong enough. He'll get himself killed." He retorted and Logan just looked down at his lap. They had this argument every year, he always tried to block them out but sometimes he couldn't ignore the hurtful comments from his father. Nicole started to defend Logan, saying he was perfectly strong enough but he wouldn't have it.

They argued for another five minutes before Nicole decided to end it. "I'm not having this argument with you this year, Charlie!" It was obvious that Mr. Mitchell was furious at her for using his nickname, he only ever liked to be called Charles or Mr. Mitchell -dad in Logan and Donovan's case- and he was already angry with Nicole. He wanted to lash out, yell at her for being so rude to him in his own house but deciding he didn't want to ruin Christmas, he stormed out of the room with his wife close behind, ready to calm him down.

Nicole shook her head. "I swear, that man-"

"Don't worry about it." Logan told her quickly, not wanting her to get even more angry and possibly not tell her the story of her trip to China. He shifted his body so he was facing her and held her hands in his. "Tell me about the party you were invited to. The one at the palace."

She smiled, ready to begin her story but, for the third time that night, was interrupted by Mrs. Wainwright calling for dinner. "I'll tell you later." She laughed at Logan's disappointed face. "I promise."

…

After dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell disappeared to attend to some business but said they would be back soon enough. Logan, Nicole and Donovan went to the living room which was lit with firelight from candles and the fireplace and the lights from the Christmas tree. Donovan was on the floor playing with his toy cars while Nicole sat Logan on the sofa and told him the party at the palace.

"-Then he bowed and asked me to dance." Nicole said, finally telling Logan the story he had been waiting to hear all night.

"Did you?" Logan asked, smile plastered on his face.

"I couldn't say no to a prince!" She exclaimed, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Wow." Logan sighed, almost envious of his favourite aunt for being able to meet a handsome prince of an unknown country and have him ask her to dance. "You must have felt like a princess. I wish I could have been there."

Nicole glanced around the room, as if to make sure no one was listening. "Maybe you can leave with me on Boxing Day." Logan's eyes widened at the suggestion. Leave? With Aunt Nicole? And travel the world and meet princes? The idea sounded too good to be true.

"Really?" He asked and received a more than enthusiastic nod in response. But then he realized. "Dad wouldn't let me go."

"But you're eighteen now. You can leave if you want!" She urged, grabbing his hands and pulling him to his feet. "Imagine it Logan, you and me! All around the world, seeing amazing sights and meeting princes! Dancing with royalty!" She brought one of his hands to her hip as she placed hers on his shoulder and lifted their joint hands high. She started to waltz around the room and hum a tune, causing Logan to laugh at her silliness. Nicole stopped the dance and grabbed his hands, looking him in the eye. "Come with me, Logan."

The idea sounded so appealing to him. He's always wanted to see the world, he wanted to meet exotic people and party with royalty. He wanted something so much more than a big house in Minnesota. But he couldn't go. "Dad wouldn't allow it." He sighed, letting himself fall back onto the sofa.

After a moment of silence, Nicole piped up. "Well, I'm sure he would allow these." She walked away for a minute, coming back with to Christmas presents in her hands.

"For Donovan." She handed his present -a box wrapped with green wrapping paper- first and he eagerly opened it to reveal small army men. _Like he doesn't have enough of them already, _Logan thought with a roll of the eyes.

"Thanks Aunt Nicole!" He said with a smile and started to play with them right away.

"And for Logan." She said, handing him the box with red wrapping paper. She sat next to him as he started to open it less eager than his brother but still full of excitement. Taking the lid off the box and moving the tissue paper aside, it revealed a nutcracker.

**There we go. The first chapter...YAY:D So was this any good? Did you all enjoy it? It took me like, two days to get this down and I usually always finish a chapter in one day so yeah..! If you did...Perhaps...Liked it...Maybe you could...Erm...You know...Leave a review?...You totally don't have to but I would uh... Really appreciate it...So er...Please? K Thanks:D**


	2. Waking Up

**I so would have had this up sooner but I kept getting distracted because I had to write a chapter for my other Christmas story and now the Wizard of Oz is on and its like...Wizard of Oz! How could that not distract you? I like the ballerina munchkins:3 AND SCARECROW! Cause he's like.. _So _awesome! But I feel so sorry for him cause he can't scare crows and he has no brain! And it must suck so bad for tin man to not have a heart..I mean like, how would he fangirl with no feels? I'm not the only one who thinks like this am I? Is it just me? Okay:/**

**Oh and you know how people say how everything just appears when your mum finds it, well I never believed that until today! I've been looking for my favourite top for like, three months and she just FINDS IT IN 5 MINUTES?! WHAT?! Just- WHAT?!**

***Sigh* Welp...You guys didn't click on this to read about my thoughts of Wizard of Oz or about my mum's magical powers in which she can bring-forth objects that have retired to the island of lost things, no you came to read about a Nutcracker.. But when I put it like that, it doesn't sound too good, does it? Hmph.**

**OH! And before I forget! The Nutcracker is gonna be called _Jay _but it's James! If you've seen any Nutcracker movies, you know why I had to call him Jay!**

**OH OH OH! Aaaaaaaaaaaaand...Thank you all for the lovely reviews! I love them all:D And sorry if there are any mistakes...I was too lazy to read through it!**

**Anyway, on with the chapter...**

…

Logan couldn't understand why he felt such an attachment to the Nutcracker, why he felt so dazzled by the wooden man and why he loved him so much. He couldn't explain it even to himself. This Nutcracker seemed different to most. Of course, it was dressed in the same red jacket with the gold press buttons and blue pants, not forgetting the tall hat on his head, covering his brown painted hair and the sword on his belt. It lacked the moustache that nearly all of the Nutcracker's have and his cheeks were as rosy as his jacket. Logan believed he looked more like a prince than he did a royal guard.

"He's amazing." Logan said more to himself that his aunt. He lifted the Nutcracker's right arm which opened his mouth wide enough to squeeze a nut inside. "Thank you _so _much Aunt Nicole!" He exclaimed, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. She laughed and patted him on the back.

"I knew you would like him!" She said, pulling away from the hug. "As soon as I saw him I just had to get him for you!"

Logan was beaming, he couldn't really explain why he loved his present so much. But he did. It was possibly the best present he has received. "Thank you. Really, thank you! He's amazing."

Nicole smiled before grabbing a walnut from the bowl on the coffee table. "Want to try him out?"

Logan laughed but took the walnut from her hand before lifting his Nutcracker's arm and slipping the walnut into his mouth.He pulled the arm back and to his side and the walnut was successfully crushed. Using one hand, he picked up all the pieces that fell on his lap and put them back in the bowl with a laugh. He loved his Nutcracker.

"Thank you." Logan whispered, bring the Nutcracker to his chest and holding him with both hands.

"I wanna see!" Donovan pretty much yelled, getting up from where he sat on the floor and running over to his big brother. "Let me see!"

"No!" Logan yelled. "You'll break him!"

"No I won't, I promise!" He reached for the Nutcracker but Logan wrenched away, holding him to his chest tighter.

"Why do you even care?"

"Because it looks cool! It just crushed that walnut into pieces!" He exclaimed, pointing at the bowl with the crushed walnut. "Let me see it!"

"_Him_! Not it! _Him!_" Logan told his annoying brother. How dare he call his Nutcracker a _it_!

"Stop being such a girl and let me see!" Donovan grabbed the Nutcracker's arm and pulled, trying to get it out of Logan's grip.

"Let go! You'll break him!" Logan shouted, trying to slap his brother's hands away.

"Boys!" Aunt Nicole said but it was clear she didn't really know what to do. She was never good with fighting children. Even if one of those children was practically an adult now. "Stop fighting!

"Just let me play with it!" Donovan shouted, pulling harder on the arm.

"He's not a toy!" And then...

_Snap!_

Donovan let go of the Nutcracker then and is eyes widened as Logan looked down at his Nutcracker's limp arm. He held the arm gently in his hand, being careful not to rip it out of the socket. He's only had his Nutcracker for a few minutes and Donovan has already managed to break it. Times like these, Logan hated his little brother and his parents for bringing him into the world. He was furious now.

"You broke him!" Logan shouted as he stood up. Logan hadn't noticed Kelly had come into the room until she sent Donovan to his room with his head down. Logan looked back down at his Nutcracker. He could fix him. He just needed a long piece of fabric to hold his arm in place. Where could he get a long piece of fabric?

An idea struck and Logan sat down, carefully placing the Nutcracker on his lap. Kelly sat down next to him and started to rub his back and Nicole did the same. He untied his bow tie, pulled it away from around his neck and used it to create a small sling.

"Do you think that will work?" Logan asked hopefully, looking up at Kelly then Nicole. He felt bad for his aunt, she probably spent so much on his Nutcracker and Donovan just went and broke it.

"I think that will work just fine." Nicole smiled, resting her chin on his shoulder as she smiled. "You fixed him up good."

"You sure did." Kelly agreed, repeating Nicole's actions. "How about tomorrow, I'll find the first aid kit and you can use a real bandage rather than your bow tie?"

"That's sounds good." Logan nodded with a yawn as he unbuttoned the top two buttons on his shirt. "Sorry, I'm just a bit tired."

Kelly nodded and stood up along with Nicole. "Why don't you take a nap, sweetie?"

"No, I'm fine." Logan said, not wanting to sleep on the sofa like the little kid his was acting out to be. Kelly raised her eyebrows and gave him the look that said do-you-really-want-to-argue-with-me. Sighing, Logan let himself lie down, resting his head on the sofa cushions and closed his eyes. He held his Nutcracker close to his chest as he felt a blanket being thrown over him. He toed off his shoes and brought his knees to his chest for a second so he could pull his socks off. He could _never_ sleep wearing socks, even if it is just a short nap. He shifted a little bit, nuzzled his head in the cushion before letting out a content sigh and fell to sleep almost instantly. He was tired.

…

"You need to stop filling his head with all your stories!" Mr. Mitchell quietly said as he turned off one of the wall lamps. Nicole stood behind the sofa, looking down at her nephew who looked so peaceful in sleep.

"But he asks to hear them, Charles." Nicole whispered with a smile.

"Whether he asks for them or not, you are to keep your mouth shut!" He turned off another wall lamp. "He needs to focus on his studies to become a doctor! Not go gallivanting across globe!"

"I don't think he wants to be a doctor." She said as Charles turned the Christmas tree lights off.

"Nonsense. Of course he does!" He yelled only for him to be shushed by Nicole when Logan stirred a little. Charles sighed, "of course he wants to be a doctor."

"I think he's letting his want to make you proud take over his want to see the world." Nicole thought aloud.

"He knows that whatever he does, I'll be proud of him." Charles said, coming to stand next to his wife's sister with only the fireplace lighting the room.

"He doesn't know that." She said. "Remember that one Christmas when he was nine? He found that injured mouse under the piano and him, Kelly and I nursed it back to health. He was so excited that he ran all over the house looking for you and when he finally did, he dragged you back to kitchen where the mouse was in a shoebox. He was so excited that he thought he made you proud. And what did you do?"

Charles looked down at Logan, remembering exactly how that night went. He yelled at Logan for taking care of the rodent rather than throwing it outside and then he grabbed Logan's elbow before dragging him upstairs to his room, lecturing him about how a Mitchell is supposed to behave and what's proper.

"I went up to his room and held him while he cried." Nicole said, knowing that she didn't need to say what he did by the look on his face. "He went on and on about how you hated him and how he'll never make you proud."

"He doesn't still think that, does he?"

"What do you think Charlie? You call him weak all the time, even today and right in front of him. You make him think so little of himself."

"I don't mean to." Charlie sighed. "I just want him to be safe and have a good and easy life. Give him the things I never had at his age."

"What if he doesn't want the life? He's not like you." She rested a hand on his shoulder as Charles brought the blanker over Logan's shoulder.

"He's like you." He said with a sad sigh. "I heard what you two talked about earlier. You invited him to travel with you."

Nicole nodded, wondering where this was leading. "I did. But he said you wouldn't allow it."

Charlie pushed a bit of Logan's hair out of his face. "Well..."

…

The grandfather clock chimed at midnight and Logan shifted so he was lying on his back. The Nutcracker fell from his grasp and landed on the floor. A sleepy groan could be heard but it didn't come from Logan.

The Nutcracker's eyes opened and he sat up. He brought his wooden hand to the velvet fabric that held his arm with a fond smile on his face as he remembered who put it there. But before he could think anything else of it, he saw the rat men coming out from under the Christmas tree. He hated the rat men all most as much as he hated who they worshipped: the Rat King.

As the men got closer and drew their swords, the Nutcracker could clearly see their unnatural buck teeth and their bottom lips leading up to the tip of their noses rather than the bottom of their nostrils like normal people. They were so strange to look at. They even had whiskers!

Wasting no time, the Nutcracker stood up and pulled out his sword ready to fight them on. The rat men snickered, thinking he had no chance. It was eight against one, it was obvious to them who was going to be winning. But they had never seen the Nutcracker fight before.

When they were close enough, one of the rat men lifted his sword to take down the Nutcracker dramatically. But he was taking too long, giving him the Nutcracker time to strike his sword through his chest and kick him away. One down. Seven to go. They swarmed him like a moth to a flame, trying to be the one to make their king happy and kill the Nutcracker. But it didn't take long for him to take their lives and soon there were eight dead rat men scattered across the living room.

"How do you always do that?" An all too familiar voice yelled in anger. The Nutcracker turned to see the Rat King standing behind him with a sword in hand.

"Why do you always try to kill me?" He said in return.

"I have my reasons. But it's all going to end tonight."

…

Logan was woken up by noises that weren't ordinary. He rubbed his eyes and sat up to look at where the noises were coming from. "I have got to be dreaming." He whispered to himself when he saw his Nutcracker fighting tiny men who had faces that had more rat features rather than human features. Logan continued to watch with wide eyes as the Nutcracker killed the last rat man but another one came up behind him.

They talked for a minute before a fight broke out. Logan tried not to move, he didn't want to distract his Nutcracker and have him lose and be killed. But it looked like that didn't matter because soon the rat man wearing a crown gained the upper hand and was ready to take the Nutcracker apart.

Logan jumped to his feet and grabbed the rat man by the back of his jacket and held him up to his face.

"What do you think you're doing?" He yelled, waving his sword about.

"You don't hurt him." Logan told him and the rat man only snickered in return before his sword materialized into a long staff with ruby on top. He said some words in a language Logan didn't know and he soon found himself shrinking. He dropped the rat man and watched in horror as he got smaller and smaller until he was the same size as the man that made him this small.

"Not so brave now, are you?" He came closer to Logan with a cruel smile on his face but he didn't get any further than three steps before the Nutcracker pushed him aside and he landed on the floor with a thud.

Now, the Nutcracker knew that the Rat King was smart. So he wasn't surprised when he jumped up and declared "This isn't over!" before running back under the Christmas tree. The Nutcracker waited until he was sure he was gone before turning back to Logan.

"Thank you." He said. "For helping me."

Logan nodded, not really sure how to respond. What do you say to a man made out of wood and is the size of a rat?

"Are you okay?"

"No." Logan said, shaking his head. "Look at me! I'm not meant to be this size! I'm meant to be...You know! _Tall_! And you! _You_! You're not meant to talk or walk or do any of that stuff! You're an inanimate object and you can't move! And you just killed like... A hundred-"

"Eight." The Nutcracker cut in but his words fell on deaf ears.

"-guys who look like rats! _Rats_! No one looks like rats unless their really unfortunate! And oh my god! He made me tiny! I'm not meant to be tiny! I'm meant to be_ tall_!"

"You said."

"Make me tall again!" Logan demanded. "And stop moving! Go back to crushing walnuts and stop swinging a sword around, for Christ's sake! You could kill someone!"

"That's the idea." He chuckled. "And I can't make you tall again. Either the Rat King -the man who just turned you small- or the Strong One can."

"Strong one? Rat King?" Logan squeaked. "Okay okay okay okay... This is just a dream. It's a dream! This is not happening! You are going to pinch me and I'm going to wake up! OW!" He screeched and rubbed his arm when the nutcracker pinched his arm with wooden fingers. "What did you do that for?"

"You told me to pinch you."

"But you're a nutcracker-"

"Yeah, my name's Jay, by the way!"

"-You're not meant to pinch me!"

"Are you just going to keep going on about what's 'meant' to happen or can we go?" Jay asked, getting a little impatient.

"Go? Go where?"

"I want to kill the Rat King and need the Strong One to help me and you want to be tall again and you need the Strong One to help you too." He explained like it was so obvious. "So can we go?"

"Where?"

Jay pointed to underneath the Christmas tree. "There. It leads to a whole other kigndom."

"If we find this...Strong One, he'll make me tall again?" Jay nodded. "But how will I get back?"

"He'll bring you back." He explained and Logan nodded. It's his only hope.

"Okay." They started to make their way towards the tree but stopped when Jay turned to face Logan.

"By the way," He put his sword back on his belt and used his free hand to untie his sling. "Thank you for helping me. Really."

"It's fine." Logan said with a bright smile. "Let's go."

**I really don't like this ending but...Oh well! Really, I didn't like this chapter at all...Hmmm..**

**I'd like to say sorry again if there were any mistakes...I was too lazy to go through it!**

**Anywhoo...I want to know what you, yes YOU, my readers, think of this chapter! And the only way in doing so is typing magical words from your beautiful minds in the little box below! Thankerooooo!**


	3. Snow Fairies

**Helloooo peopleys! This took me forever to get started because I just couldnt get the original word thing I use to open so I had to use a different one which is..Ugh! Annoying! And Shrek is on so how could you not get distracted by that?**

**Omg guess what! IT'S DECEMBER! Therefore, it is officially appropriate to be writing a Christmas story, or in my case, two!:P**

**And I am so excited for this story now because I know how it's all gonna go and I know how I'm gonna bring Kendall and Logan into this! I don't know when they'll show up but soon I hope!:D **

**Now, on with the chapter...**

...

"So how do we get to the erm- Kingdom?" Logan asked as he followed Jay towards the Christmas tree where the Rat King ran off to. Jay told him plenty of times that he wouldn't be under there but where else would go? Just disappear into thin air? Logan has seen some crazy things tonight but even that was a bit far fetched.

"The same way the rat got there." Jay said simply, looking over at Logan with a smirk. He could tell how scared the boy was, he was shaking a little and his eyes were wide in fright. But this was the only way to make him tall again, it wasn't going to be that bad.

"And how did he get there?" Logan asked, subtly walking a little closer to Jay who only smiled in response. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Smile! You're made of wood! Your mouth only goes up and down. It doesn't make sense." Logan pointed out as they approached the tree and walked beneath the branches, towards the middle.

"Your nutcrakcer -which is an inanimate object- is walking and talking and swinging around a sword and you're asking how I smile?" Jay asked with humour in his voice. When he put it like that, it did sound rather ridiculous.

"I was just curious." Logan muttered when he realized that the firelight had gone and they were in complete darkness. "Erm, Jay?"

"Yeah Loges?" James said like they weren't in pitch black. Logan couldn't even see his hand in front of his face.

"It's erm- Dark."

"Is 'erm' your favourite word?" Jay joked, causing Logan to slap his chest with the back of his hand but he regretted it instantly when the pain hit. He cradled his hand to his chest as he silently said "fuck, shit, fuck" over and over until the pain left. "That's why you don't hit people." Jay chuckled and Logan wanted to hit him again for being a smart ass.

"Shut up! When are we getting to this stupid kin-" Before Logan could finish, he took a step but found there was no floor and he just fell into nothingness. He had no idea what could be waiting for him when he hit the ground, if there is a ground in the first place. "Jay!" Logan yelled but instead of getting a response, he landed on something freezing cold and hard but in a rather soft way, if that makes any sense. He tumbled down the cold ground and whatever it was he landed on was getting down his thin white shirt and it was freezing. He hit something and came to a sudden stop. Logan was freezing and he was in pain and this was the worst Christmas Eve ever. He wanted to go home.

"You okay?" Jay asked in a voice that sounded like he was in slight pain, that's when Logan realized he hit Jay.

"I'm good." Logan sat up and took in his surroundings. He was in a large ice cave with snow coating the ground. Everything seemed to sparkle.

"Loges?" Jay said as Logan brought himself to his feet and looked around. He had never seen a place like this and it was just all so new. "Awkward question but er- have you seen my hand?"

"What?" Looking at Jay who had a sheepish smile on his face, Logan noticed that he had boths hands held out except one arm was missing a hand.

"My hand?"

"Right." Logan started to look around and digged through some snow close to where Jay was. It didn't take long for him to find a wooden set of fingers barely peeking through the snow. "I got it." He grabbed it and took it back over to Jay who was walking around, trying to find a way out of this place. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Jay smiled as he clicked it in place. "I don't know how we're going to get out of here. I must have lead us the wrong way because I wasn't expecting us to land here."

Logan didn't understand what he was saying becuase really, how could he have lead them the wrong way? They walked under a Christmas tree! But Logan nodded and helped Jay find a way out. After what seemed like forever, Jay was getting fustrated, so he pulled out his sword and started hitting the ice over and over but it wasn't doing anything.

"Jay, stop!" Logan yelled, making his way over to him. "That's not going to do anything!"

"It might!" He raised his sword again, ready to hit the thick wall of ice another time but was stopped when a rather big blue firefly flew over and pushed him away. A little squeaky noise came from the firefly as it got right in Jay's face. If Logan didn't know any better, it was angry that Jay was attacking the ice.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" Jay said with a slight laugh, dropping his sword and holding his hands up in surrender.

"You're apologising to a firefly?" Logan asked, confused. The firefly shushed and flew over to him, getting in his face and making the same angry squeaky noise. That's when he realized it wasn't a firefly.

"Snow fairies." Jay said with humour in his voice. "They're very protective of their ice."

"I-I'm sorry." Logan stammered out an apology to the little blonde girl in an icy blue tutu with a set of wings to match. Surely Logan was dreaming, fairies weren't real. She folded her arms over her chest and nodded before going back to yell at Jay.

"I know, I said I'm sorry!" Jay said, as if he could understand her. Logan didn't even bother to question it because right now, nothing could surprise him any more. "We were just looking for a way out." She was quiet for a second before flying away. After a few moments of her gone, Jay looked towards Logan who was staring to where the fairy flew off. "You're handling this very well, by the way." Jay mused when he noticed Logan wasn't freaking out when he was turned small.

"Trust me, internally. I'm freaking out!" Logan said, earning a laugh from the Nutcracker. Logan liked his laugh. It wasn't long until the snow fairy showed up once again and this time, she brought friends.

These fairies seemed different. They weren't in tutus and they didn't look as human as the blonde one did. They were a deep blue with no hair, no eyes and no nose and had thinner, longer wings. They were a lot more graceful than the blonde fairy, they flew around as swiftly and beautifully as a ballerina whereas the blonde flew into Jay's chest. Jay chuckled as she stood on his hand and stomped her foot, yelling at him in her squeaky voice. Probably blaming him for her bent wing.

Logan laughed and held out his hand. "Here, let me help." Jay helped her on to Logan's palm and she allowed him to straighten out her wings again. She fluttered them, making sure they were really fixed before she flew over to Jay and stuck her tongue out him. "I don't think she likes you." Logan chuckled as she joined her friends.

"Maybe not, but she likes you." Logan smiled as he watched the snow fairies fly around, looking like tiny ballerinas. They were so beautiful and graceful and Logan couldn't look away. Their little dance started to speed up as they neared the ice wall opposite the one Jay was attacking with his sword. They got faster and faster and in seconds, there was a flash of white light and they disappeared with the wall.

"Where did they go?" Logan asked frantically, worried that they got hurt.

"Probably off creating a snow storm or something. They like doing stuff like that even though it annoys a lot of people." Jay picked up his sword and put it back on his belt and walked towards the huge hole in the wall that the snow fairies had created. "Come on, this is our way out."

Logan hadn't prepared himself for what he was about to see. He thought maybe it would be something a little like Minnesota, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing special. Just normal. Boy, was he wrong. When he stepped out of the icy arch way and stood on the ledge, he saw the most spectacular view that was nowhere near as beautiful as all those pictures Aunt Nicole has shown him of her travels. It was green as far as the eye could go, whether it being hills of fields in all different shades and small villages on the side or different types of trees creating huge forests filled with so many mysteries and adventures. In the far distance, behind all the trees, he could see mountains, huge beautiful mountains that touched the clouds and in between them, just a little bit closer was a magnificent castle. Logan might never want to go home again.

"Enjoying the view?" Jay asked with a smile as he watched Logan's expression. He couldn't help but think how cute he looked with he's eyes wide in awe and his lips part slightly. His cheeks were red a little from when they were in the cold cave and he just looked so... Amazing.

"Yeah." Logan breathed, not able to say anything else.

"Well as much as I love looking at my- I mean, _the_ kingdom, we kind of have to go." Jay said a little awkwardly. Logan tore his eyes away from the view and looked at Jay confused. Did he almost call it _his _kingdom? But not wanting to question it and make him any more uncomfortable, he nodded and followed Jay to wherever they were going.

...

They were walking through what seemed like an abondanded village. It was small and practically destroyed. Many of the little houses had doors either wide open or broken down, windows were broken and shops were broken into. Carriages were left in the middle of the street instead of parked to the side, stalls had tipped over with the goods they were selling scattered across the ground and they even passed a few burnt down buildings.

"What happened here?" Logan asked to no one in particular. He saw a plush doll on the ground in a blue dress with red pigtails, button eyes and a sewed on smile. He picked itup and looked it over, it wasn't damaged in the slightest but it was obviously a few years old and used a lot. Out there somewhere, a little girl was missing her doll.

"Hey Loges!" Jay called from a few feet away. "I found a horse and carriage!" Logan held onto the doll as he made his way over to Jay who was stroking the neck of a snow white horse.

"Who would leave a-Ow!" Logan yelled when something hit him in the back of his head. He turned around and saw two kids, a ginger boy with freckles and a brown haired, wide eyed little girl, with small rocks in their hands and by their feet.

"Get away from her!" The girl yelled before throwing a rock that hit Logan on the shoulder.

"Okay, no need for that." Jay said calmly and the boy threw a rock, knocking his hat off in response.

"Get away!" He yelled, and they both started throwing rocks at them over and over with no mercy. Trying to dodge the rocks, Logan and Jay quickly ran to hide behind the first thing they saw which happened to be an old stall that had fallen over on its side.

"What's their problem?" Logan asked, rubbing the back of his head where a bunch of rocks had hit it.

"I don't know!"

Logan looked down at the doll in his hand and guess that maybe it belonged to the little girl. He quickly stood up and recieved a rock to the forehead.

"Ow!" He yelled as another rock hit his chest. He held up his hands in surrender and they stopped the continuous rock throwing. "I found this!" He held out the doll for the girl. "Is it yours?"

"Anna!" The girl cried, dropping her rocks and running towards Logan and taking the doll from him. She hugged it tightly to her chest and swayed side to side as if she was trying to soothe a baby. Jay stood up and walked around the stall with Logan following.

"What are your names?" Logan asked as the boy ran to catch up to his friend.

"I'm Tyler and this is Katie." The boy answered before pointing at the horse. "And her name is Saba."

"What happened here?" Jay asked them, picking up his hat and putting it on right.

"The rat men, that's what!" Katie answered, hugging the doll tighter. "The king needed more people to join his army and work in the castle so he took everyone!"

"We were out with Saba when it happened." Tyler continued. "We were on the hill and we saw them. We tried to go find the rebels to help, they always know what to do! But we couldn't find them."

Logan's eyes widened and he tried to swallow the lump in his throat. Army? Rebels? That usually means fighting and fighting always leads to being really hurt or dead! Logan didn't want to die or be really hurt.

"When did this all happen?" Jay asked.

"Yesterday!" Katie answered. "We've been looking for the rebels ever since but we can't find their hide out anywhere!"

"None of this would have happened if it weren't for Prince James!" Tyler said with anger as he folded his arms over his chest. "If he didn't leave, the stupid Rat King wouldn't have taken over and we'd all be fine! And he hasn't even come back to help us!"

"Who needs him!" Katie said all of sudden and Logan didn't miss the way Jay's expression fell and he looked down at his feet. What got him so upset? "The rebels can take the king down and we'll all be fine! We don't need a stupid prince!"

"We'll help you guys find the rebels." Jay said quietly, something had defintely gotten him down. But Logan didn't care about that right now, because did he just agree to go find rebels?

"Are you serious?" Logan squeaked in fear. He wasn't going to go looking for some tough guys who most likely are huge and brutal with scars and tattoos and carry around all sorts of weapons that they could use to kill someone.

"Yes, I'm serious." Jay said, lifting his head to look at Logan, not expecting him to be looking straight back at him. Their eyes locked and neither of them could look away. They could have been standing there for seconds, minutes, even hours and they wouldn't have noticed. Because it was just them in that moment. Until...

"So you're going to help us?" Katie asked, making Logan and the Nutcracker break their stare and look at the girl.

Logan said, "yes."

**Probably a bad way to end it but oh well! Okay the next chapter is where Kendall and Carlos come in, yay:D And I'm pitcturing them in my head in like, certain clothes looking the way they do and stuff but looking INSANELY hot! Im excited for it!**

**Anyway, reviews make me happy...So...Review?**


	4. The Rebels

**Helloooo peopleys! How are my lovely little readers doing tonight? Or day? Or evening? Or morning? Whatever time zone your in! I was supposed to get this up yesterday but I was reading a really cute book and its just so adorable and just cute! But yeah..You don't care:P**

**I've been SO excited to bring Carlos and Kendall into this because I have this really hot image in my head in how I'm going to dress them and how I'm going to make them act, of course, they'll still be the same fun characters we all love...But with my own little additions which I'm hoping you guys will like!:D**

**Thank you all for the lovely reviews, they always make me smile lots and lots and I just looooooove reading them:D:D Also, thank you for the people who favourite and such, that means just as much to me:)**

**Now, on with the chapter...**

…

They had been travelling all morning and afternoon. Jay had the reins, steering Saba and the carriage in the right direction, Logan sat next to him and took in the scenery of this beautiful kingdom while Katie and Tyler sat in the back. The sun was starting to set and it was going to get dark soon and they can't travel at night, it's too dangerous. It's even more dangerous to stay in one place though.

"We need to find the rebels, fast." Jay said quietly, not wanting to worry the two kids in the back who were playing rock, paper, scissors. Logan could see the worry on his wooden face and that just scared him more than he already was.

"What if we don't?" Logan asked in a low but shaky voice. Jay could hear how scared the pale boy was and he couldn't help but blame himself for dragging him into all of this.

"We'll worry about that when the time comes." Was Jay's answer and it only angered Logan. How could he not worry _now_ when there were angry rat men running around destroying towns and kidnapping people? This is the perfect time to worry!

"Jay-" Logan started but was interrupted by the screams of terror and sounds of destruction. The Nutcracker quickly pulled the reins, stopping Saba in her tracks and jumped out of the carriage. Logan and the children didn't hesitate to follow him up the hill to see what was going on. Reaching the top of the hill, they froze. Below them, was a just a small little town, similar to the one where they found Katie and Tyler except the destruction was happening right before their eyes. Men with faces like rats and dressed in black ran around, chasing crying children, killing men who were brave enough to try and defend their home, groping the woman who were young and thin. But in the end, they all ended up with shackles binding their wrists together and being shoved into cages with wheels. The sounds of childrens' screams, mothers' cries and menacing laughter filled the air and Logan hated the world he had fallen into. He wanted to go home. His father was right.

"Why are they doing this again?" Katie whispered, cuddling her doll tight. "They only did this to our home yesterday. They can't need more people already. Why is this happening?"

As if someone heard them, they could hear clear enough what a rat man screamed at the man he stood over. "_Where is he?_"

"_I don't know!_" Was the man's replied as he tried to scurry backwards but was stopped when the rat pulled out his sword.

"_Where is Prince James?!_" He screamed, even louder this time. His rat face was turning bright red and his nose twitched in anger. Logan's eyes widened when he realized why they were doing this to that small town. They were looking for the prince. Looking over at Jay for a confirmation, Logan saw that he had his head down, not in fear or in sympathy for the small town, not in anger at the Rat King for causing people pain or the Prince for not being here to help his kingdom, but in shame. Logan turned his head away when he heard the man scream that he didn't know where Prince James was and begged for mercy and he watched as the rat ran his sword through the man's chest. Logan screamed and covered his hands.

He just witnessed a murder!

His screams must have somehow caught the rat who killed the man's attention as he looked up straight in their directions with a grin that just screamed evil. He looked to the closest rat men around him and screamed, "_Up there, on the hill!_" before they all came running towards the four onlookers.

"Run!" Jay yelled, grabbing Logan's hand and doing as he ordered. Katie and Tyler ran ahead of them but kept turning their heads to make sure they didn't lose the Nutcracker and Logan. Saba had galloped off with the carriage as soon as Katie told her to. That horse was smarter than most, Logan had to admit. Running into the woods, Logan's stomach turned. He was so scared! Bad things happened in woods, with lions and tigers and bears! _Oh my god, now I'm sounding like freakin' Dorothy!_ He thought as he ran. But there were no lions, no tigers and no bears just men who looked like rats and had swords. Sharp swords! That scared Logan more than a cowardly lion.

"J-Jay?" Logan said breathlessly as he tightened his grip on the wooden hand.

"Yeah, Loges?" The Nutcracker answered, looking over his shoulder to see the rat men getting closer and had their swords out, ready to strike.

"W-What's gonna happen?"

"I don't-" Jay stopped when a rope ladder fell in front of them and a voice saying "Quick, climb up!" Looking over his shoulder again, Jay saw that the rat men were nowhere near tired from all the running yet and they could go for a long time, but Logan and the kids couldn't. "Climb." Jay ordered, helping Katie up then Tyler then Logan before climbing up after them. When Jay was halfway up, the ladder was being pulled up so Jay didn't have to climb. He snickered when he saw the rat men stop beneath him and look around, confused. Thank god rats were stupid and had awful eyesight.

Jay was helped over the wooden ledge of the house in the tree and felt relief when he realized that they finally found the rebels. But that relief vanished in an instant when he saw the many men holding swords at him. He looked to Logan and saw that he had Katie and Tyler hiding behind his legs as they had a few swords at them as well.

"These are the people who were supposed to help us?" Logan yelled with eyes wide and a fear stricken face. He was terrified, that much was clear. Logan hated being scared, he hated the feeling in his stomach but most of all, he hated feeling helpless and weak. Over and over in his head, his father's words repeated themselves;_ "__He's not strong enough. He'll get himself killed."_

Oh, how right he was.

"Everything will be fine." Jay said with reassuring eyes that Logan just wanted to believe but couldn't.

"If they're intruders, why the hell did you let them up?" A voice yelled from one of the small little huts. Logan had to admit, whatever this place was, it was amazing. It seemed the rebels created a little village in the trees. There was at least a small house in each tree with bridges that lead to this one, which must have been the main meeting point as it has the largest house and all bridges lead here.

The door to the house slammed open and out stormed a tall blonde dressed in skin-tight tanned breeches, a puffy shirt like a pirate making a long V going down to just above his bell-button, and boots the same as a pirates. He had a belt around his waist with a sword attached. He was clearly angry.

"Kendall!" A short Latino said as he came out, trying to put his boots on and keep in speed with the blonde. He was dressed practically the same, except his breeches were black and his shirt was a dark blue and not buttoned up. Looking around, the rebels were all dressed in the same style of clothing but just wore it in different ways and had different boots or a hat. Another rebel, looking rather flustered with a red face and wide eyes, quickly ran out of the house after Carlos as he stood with the other rebels. "Just calm down, okay?" The Latino said, grabbing Kendall's arm once his boots were finally on.

"What the hell is happening?" Kendall yelled at the men who held the swords at the four strangers.

"Intruders, sir." The red-headed man in front of Logan said as if they were soldiers.

"Then why did you let them up?" It was clear that Kendall was the leader and that he was _very _angry. He walked swiftly to stand in front of Jay and looked him up and down. "Who are you?"

"I'm Jay." He answered smoothly. "And these are my friends, Logan, Katie and Tyler."

"How did you find us?" Kendall demanded.

"The rat men were chasing us. The ladder just appeared out of nowhere. We took our chance." Jay answered, staying calm and Logan couldn't help but wonder how he was so nonchalant about this. He would have been freaking out and would possibly cry. Kendall turned to glare daggers at his men. It was clear he wanted to yell at them all for letting a possible spy of the King know of their whereabouts but stayed quiet, turning back to the Nutcracker when he started to speak again. "We were actually looking for you. We're in need of your assistance."

Kendall took in a deep breath to calm himself before turning to the man wearing the pirate's hat next to him. Looking closely, Jay couldn't help but notice how feminine this particular rebel looked, it was strange really. "Camille," Kendall said, taking the hat off the rebel and that's when long, dark curls fell over her shoulder and Jay realized that it was a girl, not a man. Putting the hat on his head, Kendall continued, "Take the two children to your hut and look after them while I talk to our... Guests."

Camille put her sword on her belt and walked towards the children who hid behind Logan. She pushed him out of the way and grabbed their hands before pulling them away. They looked over their shoulders, giving terrified looks towards the two who brought them there.

"Everything will be okay." Logan tried to assure but he didn't believe it himself. He was so scared.

Logan and Jay were quickly escorted to the main house which was just one large room. In one corner of the room was a small kitchenette and in the other was an old mattress with the blankets tousled and the pillows pushed to the side. Clothes scattered the area with boots and hats. Around the room were piles and piles of old books, some in the corners of the room, some on the counters and others on the large desk in the middle of the room which also had all sorts of swords and daggers accompanying the books.

It was expected that Kendall would bring in some of the other rebels to hold swords at Logan and Jay just to be safe, but instead, it was just the leader and his Latino companion whose name they hadn't learned yet.

"Don't worry." The Latino said quietly to Logan. "He won't hurt you. He's a big softie for a scared kid."

"I'm not scared." Logan stammered, proving that he was lying. The Latino just chuckled before going to the desk, pushing some of the stuff out of the way before jumping on top and sitting with his legs folded.

Kendall closed the door behind him before going over to his friend and leaning against the desk. "What do you need help with?" He asked, folding his arms over his chest.

"Katie and Tyler's town was destroyed and the people were taken by the rat men." Jay explained and Kendall nodded, waiting for him to continue. "They need a place to stay."

"Well sorry, but we don't run a day care centre." Kendall said, growing tired of the conversation already. "This is a place where men train to fight and plot against the King. Not a place for kids to be running around like this is some playground."

"That's the second thing we need help with." Jay said, receiving a very confused look from Logan which he just ignored. "I know someone who could help get rid of the king."

"Oh no." The Latino muttered. "Not another one."

"Carlos," Kendall scolded. "Shh." Carlos -which must be the Latino's name- rolled his eyes with a grin but did as he was told as Kendall continued. "Listen, we don't need any more people coming in here saying they know where Prince James is when they haven't a clue."

"I'm not talking about the Prince." Jay said quietly.

"Then who else?" Carlos asked, obviously confused.

"The Strong One." Jay answered and it was clear that Carlos was trying to fight back a laugh. "I know where he is and he can fight the Rat and take him down. But I need help!"

"The Strong one?" Kendall asked with raised eyebrows. "Seriously? That's got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"He's real." Jay assured. "The Prince said so himself!"

"You know Prince James?" Carlos asked, eyes wide and full of hope.

Jay's face resembled a deer caught in headlights but he nodded. "Yes."

"Where is he?" Carlos asked, excitedly. Kendall rolled his eyes and walked around , behind the desk and sitting on the stool that was there before he pushed books out of the way to look at papers beneath them.

"I don't know." Jay said, barely a whisper.

"Is he okay? Is he safe?" Carlos asked and Logan noticed that he was a bit worried. He wondered if they knew each other before he left or...Whatever happened to him. "We were friends, the Prince and I. But he just left and I haven't heard from him in a year."

"He's safe Carlos." Jay said with a small smile. "I assure you."

"Well, enough talk about some selfish Prince who just up and left the kingdom in the hands of that Rat-"

"If you don't mind my asking," Three heads quickly looked to Logan in surprise. He was so quiet through this whole ordeal, they forgot he was even there. Logan swallowed the lump in his throat before continuing, losing the slight confidence he had. "What happened to the prince?"

Kendall shook his head, looking down at his papers so Carlos decided to tell the story. "He had to go away for a couple of days to settle a deal he made with another king. So, while he was gone, it was the Royal Adviser's job to run the kingdom until he returned. That's the Rat. He was trustworthy at first, I swear. I knew him so I would know. But I guess power got the best of him so he took over the kingdom completely. But no one really knew what happened to James."

"I heard the rat king killed him." Kendall muttered and Carlos slapped him on the shoulder. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Don't say that!"

Kendall rolled his eyes. "Whatever. So, Jay. Where is this Strong One?"

"A while away. Two, maybe three days journey." Jay answered, happy for the subject change.

"And are you sure he can kill the king?"

"Positive."

"Okay." Kendall stood up from his stool. "We leave tomorrow morning."

…

"Are you guys going to be okay here?" Logan asked Katie and Tyler. He had just finally gotten away from Kendall who wanted to create a game plan before the morning so they knew exactly what was going to happen and wouldn't have to wait around. The sooner they find the Strong One, the better. And Logan couldn't agree more, The Strong One was his only way home.

"We'll be fine." Katie murmured as she cuddled closer into her pillow. They were both in a small bed in Camille's little hut and they were going to be staying here for a while.

"Camille's actually really nice." Tyler added with a yawn.

Logan smiled. "Just go to sleep guys. Jay will come back for you when this is all over."

"What about you?" Katie asked, eyes closed and halfway between awake and asleep.

"I'll be going home." Logan said, excited for this journey to be over and for him to go home. Katie and Tyler nodded, not having it in them any longer to keep a conversation going and they were asleep in seconds. Logan pulled their blanket over their shoulders before quickly and quietly out of the hut. He was on his way to his own hut for the night, which he will be sharing with Jay but when he got there, he noticed the Nutcracker sitting on the edge of the wood that created their ground with his legs hanging off and was watching the moon and stars. For a reason that Logan didn't know, he walked in Jay's direction and sat down next to him, letting his legs hang next to Jay's.

"Hi." Jay said quietly.

"Hi." Logan returned. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Are _you_?" Jay said, an eyebrow raised in a knowing way. Logan nodded but he could tell he wasn't. "Be honest with me, Loges."

Logan sighed in defeat, he might as well just tell him. Maybe it will feel better, having someone to talk to. "My dad was right."

"What do you mean?" Jay asked, clearly confused. He expected something like 'Those rat men freak me out, it's scary' or 'Can we really trust those rebels? They did try to kill us!' But this took him by surprise.

Logan sighed, looking at the stars above him. "Earlier tonight, or last night or...Whatever! My dad got in argument with my aunt. She wants me to travel the world with her. He said I wasn't strong enough, that I would get myself killed. And he was right. He was so right!"

"You are strong, Loges." Jay tried to tell him but Logan just shook his head.

"I've just been so scared this entire time, I have this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. I've never felt fear like this before! I'm weak, I'm scared and I just want to go home, where it's safe! My dad was right."

"You're strong, Logan." Jay said, never sounding so serious before and Logan noticed how he called him 'Logan' rather than 'Loges' like usual. Ignoring that, he laughed dryly, no amusement in it whatsoever. Before he got the chance to protest, Jay interrupted him. "I know you don't see it now, but you are. You're strong and you are brave. You just need a chance to prove yourself. You're just afraid to admit who you are because of what your father will think."

"Well what about you, huh?" Logan asked, looking Jay in the eye. "Admit who you are, _Prince James._"

If it was possible for painted-on-eyes to grow wide, Jay made it so. "W-What are you talking about?"

"I know you're the Prince, Jay." Logan stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You make it so obvious. Whenever people mention him, you just look so guilty and heartbroken, like you want to apologise but you know it's no good."

Jay sighed, he really didn't want anyone to find out, at least not yet. "I didn't leave my people."

"What happened...James?"

Jay -Or should he say, James- smiled at the use of his real name coming from Logan's lips. But the smile vanished when he remembered what he was about to say. "I came back. I went to see the Rat and let him know of my arrival. But he was drunk with power, I tried to fight for my crown, for my people. But he had magic. He turned me into a Nutcracker and sent me away to some far off land which turned out to be where your aunt found me."

"So you didn't abandon your kingdom?"

"I would never do that! And I especially wouldn't leave my people in the hands of that rat!"

"Why won't you tell anyone? If you told Carlos who you were, you would give them the push they need to fight!" Logan tried to reason but Jay shook his head, because that would never happen.

"I can't fight the Rat. He has too much power. Only the Strong One has the strength and they wouldn't find him if they knew who I was. They would think I could do it when I can't!" Jay protested and that's when Logan realized.

"You don't have faith in yourself." He observed, finally realizing how obvious it was now.

"Yes I do!"

"No you don't! Ever since that first fight with the Rat that you lost, you lost faith in your ability to stand up and help take him down! You have no strength in yourself." Logan explained, making sense of it all now.

"You don't understand, Loges."

"I understand plenty. You just have to find that thing worth fighting for. If it isn't your kingdom, find something else." Logan said slowly, looking at James as intense as he was looking back.

"My kingdom is all I need to fight for. But I can't do it, only the Strong One." James said with a sigh before getting up and walking away.

**Well here you goooooooooooooo! I really hate the way I end chapter..I'm sorry, I just do!:P This little end bit with the James and Logan conversation wasn't gonna be here until the next chapter but I felt like doing it now so...Here! And this is the longest chapter I've done! WOO!**

**DID YOU THINK KENDALL AND CARLOS LOOKED AS HOT AS I TRIED TO MAKE THEM?! I mean, I know they ARE hot but come on, aren't they hotter dress like that!? And can you imagine Kendall in a fucking pirate hat and boots?! Thats some sexy shit right there!**

**Anyways, reviews make me smile...So, review maybe?**


	5. Then Stay

**Hellooooo peopleys! Okay, so _serious time! _So someone reviewed the first chapter of this story recently. I'm not sure who he/she is because it was guest. They were moaning at me for making Kelly a nanny and the daughter of the maid and they think I did it just because she's black. So I'm going to try and explain myself _nicely! _I made Kelly the nanny because I think she is one of the nicestcharacters on Big Time Rush and I felt she would make a great motherly figure for Logan. And she's young so I wanted to make it seem like she's been there for Logan his whole life without being old so I had to find an excuse and I thought her mother being a maid would work. I wasn't trying to be racist or anything like that, I was using her personality and characteristics so I could find a suitable place for her in my story. I'm sorry if I offended anyone.**

**But if you are reading this, I expect an apology because I do not accept being called racist and I do not accept rudeness. If you don't even have the balls to straight up and say sorry to me then I understand. We can't all be nice Rushers:)**

**Now that's out of the way, I would like to thank all of you who reviewed positive things and enjoyed the the last chapter and you all seemed to agree that Kendall and Carlos are hot buuuuuuuuuuuuut I was kinda disappointed that only one of you noticed that they had just got interrupted while having sex! But yeah...GLAD YOU ENJOYED IT:D**

**And just to clarify, Jay (the Nutcracker) is James (the Prince) but no one knows that, except Logan...Does that make sense?**

**OH! One more thing, I've noticed that you guys keep saying sorry that you've never see the Nutcracker and don't know the story, and thats completely fine! This is practically the story but my telling of it! So don't worry about it and just enjoy:)**

**Now, on with the chapter...**

…

"So you're telling me that the Nutcracker, which is nothing but a piece of wood, managed to escape a troop of well trained rat soldiers; unharmed?" The Rat King asked from where he sat on his golden throne with red velvet cushions. "And instead of just running away like the spineless cowards you are, you decided to come back to me and report your incompetence?"

The two rat men dressed in black nodded nervously, shaking in their boots. Fear was evident on their faces because they knew how merciless their king was and the outcome of his rage was completely unpredictable.

The old woman in the wooden wheelchair at the bottom of the steps by the throne spoke up, getting annoyed with the scene in front of her. "Just kill them already so we can get going!"

"Quiet mother!" The king yelled as he stood up and started making his way down the steps.

"Don't you use that tone with me!" She yelled and the king only rolled his eyes in response, not wanting to look foolish in front of the men who now stood a few feet across from him.

"Was the Nutcracker with anybody?" The king asked. He had wondered more than once whether that boy who he had shrunk accompanied James on his journey, not that he was frightened or threatened by him. He was just some silly boy who had no idea what was coming to him. He was merely a fly on the king's wind shield.

"T-Two kids and erm some boy." One of the rat man stammered out, hoping that maybe his punishment will be lighter if he does as he's told.

"A boy? What did he look like? What was he wearing?" He asked quickly, desperate to know if it was the boy he shrunk.

"I-I don't know." The other man said, frightened. "Brown hair, kinda small, dressed in fancy clothes."

"It was him." The king muttered to himself, taking a step back. He didn't know what it was about that boy but there was something there he didn't like, that made his whiskers twitch in- what was it? Nerves? Who was he exactly? There was nothing special about him! Just some teenager from the other world who was most likely too afraid to leave the house! The king hated this boy already, whatever his name was, he hated him. He didn't like the feeling he had when the boy was mentioned, it made him feel like he _could _be defeated when really, no one could defeat him.

No one.

Especially not these two miserable excuses of rats that stood in front of him. Just looking at them -their bottom lips trembling out of fear, their shoulders shaking slightly and struggling to stand on their weak knees- made him tighten his face in disgust. They were pathetic. The king doesn't stand for men so weak, so easily frightened, so pathetic.

With no more words said, he drew out his sword and plunged it through one's heart before taking it out and repeating his actions on the one who stood next to him. They both made noise in pain before falling to the ground with a thud. They were dead in seconds.

The Rat king sighed as he rubbed his temples with closed eyes. He was getting stressed, that much was clear. He wiped the blood from his sword on one of the men's leg before putting it back and saying "Get rid of them." Another two rat men scurried across the room and dragged the lifeless bodies out of the room.

"Can we go now?" The old woman yelled from where she was.

"One moment, you wretched woman!" The king yelled back before walking over to the desk in the corner of the room where a book waited open for him. He read the page over quickly as he heard the squeaky wheels of his mother's wheelchair approaching. "Here it is! The Strong One." He said triumphantly to no in particular. "_Kind, smart and fearless._" He read aloud. Noticing there wasn't anything else about the Strong One, the king quickly flicked through pages, trying to find out more about his enemy. "Is that it? That can't be it?" He yelled, getting frustrated with the few words written, he threw the book across the room with a scream.

He had known for a long time now that the Nutcracker was desperate to find the Strong One, ever since the king turned him into the piece of wood he is now. James knew that the Strong One was the only person who could bring him back, was the only person who could actually defeat the king and James had been on this quest to find him for months and months. But enough is enough.

"What are you going on about now?" The woman yelled as she followed the king to where he went to grab his staff with the red ruby on top.

"If the Nutcracker is so desperate to find the damn Strong One then I guess I'll have to reduce him into a pile of splinters before he can find him!" Turning to face the large grey pillar in the room, he recited a spell in a language foreign to most. The pillar shattered in giant pieces and fell to the ground before it lifted itself up but rather than looking like the pillar it did before, it looked like a giant disfigured man.

"Oh now look what you've done! Look at the mess you've made!" The woman yelled at her son but he chose to ignore her. The mess was the last thing on his mind right now.

"Find the Nutcracker. Destroy him." He ordered and watched as the rock man marched out of the room with heavy steps. He turned to look at one of the rat men that stood in the corner of the room. "Follow him." With a nod, the man ran out of the room after the walking after the piece of rock.

"Can we go _now_?" The king's mother shouted, getting frustrated with her only son messing around with magic and rocks. She just wanted to have lunch.

"Yes mother!"

…

The next morning, Jay, Logan, Kendall and Carlos were off on their quest for the Strong One. Logan hung back and allowed Kendall and James to bicker over which direction to take whilst Carlos tried to get them to stop. It was ridiculous, the way those two argued, like they had known each other for years and had a mutual disliking for each other but never left the other's side. Logan wondered whether they had known each other when James was the Prince. He knew Carlos had but Kendall didn't say anything about it.

"I swear, I am five seconds away from ramming my sword into my brain just to get away from their constant bickering!" Carlos said as he slowed down to walk with Logan.

"They're not that bad." Logan tried to reason but Carlos only scoffed.

"Please! Listen to them."

"No, if we go that way then we have to cut through the forest where all robbers are!" Kendall yelled, yanking the map from Jay's wooden fingers.

"You're a rebel, since when are you afraid of robbers?" James said, taking the map back. "And if we go your way, we'll have to go through the swamp which will slow us down!"

"Honestly," Carlos said, folding his arms over his chest. "Kendall is arguing with Jay like he did with James."

Logan's head snapped up to look at the Latino instantly. "They knew each other?"

"Yeah, they were great friends. Except they couldn't go an hour without arguing over something." Carlos chuckled. _So they did know each other! _Logan thought to himself.

"How long did you know the prince?" Logan asked, his curiosity peaking.

"A long time!" Carlos said, drawing out 'long'. "Since we were kids really. We were best friends, did everything together. I can't deny that I was shocked when I found out he had left. It just seemed so unlike him because he loved his kingdom, more than anything. It was odd really."

Logan only nodded because he was a terrible liar and if he tried to say something, he would just tell him James' secret.

"But Jay said he's safe. That's enough for now." Carlos added but judging by the disappointed expression on his face, it wasn't enough.

Changing the subject to something lighter and easier to talk about, Logan said, "Do you think they realize that they've lead us to boat docks?"

Carlos laughed, "No, I don't think they do." He whistled to catch Kendall and James' attention and it did, they stopped suddenly and looked around, realized where they were. The sand beneath them was damp and dark, matching the grey sky. The ocean was more of a dark green rather than a blue and the harsh waves hit against the few abandoned boats by the docks.

Kendall and James looked down at the map, silently trying to tell if there was a way to get to the Strong One from here. Logan wondered if they even knew where he was.

"Okay, Carlos and I will fix up one of these boats so we'll have it sea worthy and you two go... Gather supplies or something." Kendall said, starting to make his way to one of the boats with Carlos following.

"Who put you in charge?" James yelled, ready to go down there and start another argument which will never end but he barely got two steps before Logan grabbed his hand to stop him.

"Just let it go." He said softly. "Come on." Logan dragged him off to the other direction, in search of... Something. It didn't go unnoticed that the further away they got from the beach, the clearer the sky got and the brighter everything seemed. "You know, for a kingdom that scares me, it's very beautiful."

James laughed. "It used to be so much more beautiful, especially here." He looked around at the sand dune they had come across. Patches of grass scattered around but other than that, it was just sand. "It's hard to believe that this used to be a meadow."

"A meadow?" Logan asked.

"Yeah. The garden fairies are kinda responsible for that. They made everything so gorgeous." James explained, tightening his grip on Logan's hand ever so slightly.

Logan tried to hide the blush that was caused by the simple gesture, he tried to ignore it by asking "The garden fairies? Like the snow fairies?"

"Exactly like the snow fairies! I don't know what-" James was interrupted by a light banging beneath their feet. They dropped each other's hands and took a step away, looking down at their footprints in the sand. The banging stopped and they looked at each other, mirroring a confused expression. Then it started again. Bending down, James dug through the sand until finally, wood hit metal. He brushed the rest of the sand away and found a street drain. He grabbed each end of it without hesitation but stopped when...

"Don't do that!" Logan yelled as his breath became more shallow. They had no idea what could be under there, it could be anything like something that could hurt them or kill them. Whatever it was, he didn't want to find out.

"It's fine, Loges." James reassured.

"You don't know that!" Logan practically screamed. James knew he got scared easily but there was really nothing to be scared of. The only way to convince him of that was to prove it. So in one quick motion, he lifted the drain and a burst of light came out. Logan yelped and fell back, landing on his back. He watched as the light dulled into something that resembled the group of snow fairies but instead they were green. Standing up, Logan got a better look at them. They were a leafy green colour, shaped exactly like the snow fairies with no face and no hair and their wings were a blossom pink. "They're amazing." Logan breathes as they flew away.

"Watch them work." James said, going over to Logan and taking his hand to pull him out of the way. The fairies quickly flew away, turning brown sand into long blades of green grass, colourful flowers and big trees. They moved so quickly and were so full of grace, Logan couldn't believe what he was seeing. All his life he believed that fairies weren't real, just a fictional creature and now here he stood, watching them fly about and creating something beautiful. Nothing seemed real any more.

"Is this real?" Logan breathed as James pulled him along a stone path the fairies had created for them.

"It is." James said, smiling as he watched Logan's face light up.

"Are you sure?" The Nutcracker laughed, subconsciously pulling Logan a little closer.

"I'm positive. You're not much of a believer are you? You seem so amazed by everything." James observed.

"That's because I've only ever seen Minnesota. Everything is just so different and new here. If it wasn't so frightening, I'd consider staying." He was joking of course, but there was a hint of truth behind that simple statement. Because at home, he's father was there, pushing him towards something he didn't want and dragging him away from what he did want. And here, everything here was bright and beautiful and so magical. And James was here. Honestly, if there was no rat men and king, he'd stay forever.

"Then stay." James said. Logan stopped walking and looked down at their joined hands before back up at the Nutcracker.

"I-"

"Jay! Logan!" Carlos' voice was heard. He was yelling and sounded panicked and frantic. Dropping their hands, they started running in the direction they heard his voice coming from. The sky was getting darker as they got closer to the beach they started at. Both Kendall and Carlos were nowhere to be seen and they started to panic.

"Where are they?" Logan asked, fear clear in his voice. What if something happened to them? What if the rat men found them and killed them? What if-

He was brought out of his thoughts when he felt a pebble hit him on the back of the head. He turned and saw Carlos behind a huge rock and wildly gestured for him to get over there. "James, over there." Logan said, grabbing the Nutcracker's hand and running towards the giant rock.

"What's going on?" James asked.

"Did you not _see_ the giant rock thing coming this way?" Kendall hissed, pointing in the direction they had just came. Looking that way, Logan's eyes bugged out when he saw the giant man made out of rock marching towards them.

**I apologise if this got terrible towards the end, I was just getting tired and losing interest and...Yeah, I just wanted to finish this quickly! But if ya liked it, type a little review and tell me what you think!:D**

**Til next time:D**


	6. New Member of the Family

**Hey everybody! Look, I'm finally updating this!:D Yay for end of hiatus':D**

**Now, for all of you who have read or are reading my other fics, here's what's going on! I'm deleting **In Your Touch**. I know some of you will be sad about that, I have gotten a lot of reviews for it which is amazing and I'm very grateful for all of that but I can't bring myself to write for it, I read through it again and just, ugh, I cringed! I really don't like it so I'm getting rid of it (If anyone wants to take over it, PM me and let me know). For my Christmas fics, I am going to be completing them. I have been updating **Twelve Days of Christmas **regularly and I'm going to continue working on this for all of you. Don't think I've forgotten about **Forever Now**. I will be updating it soon and I know where it's going so don't worry. I'm also deleting **The Other (Wo)man **cause I completely forgot where I'm going with it, so again, if anyone wants to take over that, PM me. I'm going to post this on all the next chapters of my fics so everyone knows what's going on by the way. I know this would be a whole lot easier if I had a system and stuff and I'm going to figure one out as soon as I've updated at least one chapter for each story and I'll let you know about it as soon as!**

**It should be easier for me to update at this moment because I've dropped out of college and have a lot of free time but this is only going to last til September because I will be going back.**

**Now, on with the chapter...**

…

Logan was freaking out. _Freaking. Out!_ That thing was a giant rock! That looked like a man! Just, _what _the hell is going on? James and Kendall were arguing about what to do, Carlos was watching the rock man with wide eyes and staying hidden. Logan just wanted to cry.

"I'm going to die, I'm going to die. Oh my god, oh my god." Logan chanted. He scrunched his eyes closed tight, just hoping that maybe he could pull a Dorothy and wake up on the sofa in his living room. James was the first to notice Logan's panicked state. He ignored Kendall's comment and went to Logan's side, taking one of his hands and holding it to his chest.

"Loges, it's okay, we'll get out of this." James said in a soft voice. Logan opened his eyes and looked at the Nutcracker. His Nutcracker that he tried to protect and ended up small, his Nutcracker that was the only thing keeping him sane right now. "Calm down, I'll get us out of this, okay?" Logan nodded and James tightened his grip for a second before going back to Kendall and Carlos. "Okay, any ideas?"

Logan ignored them as they planned. He focused on breathing and staying calm. Just breathe. In and out. In and out. Simple. But then he heard the loud roar from the rock man and he covered his eyes and ears with his hands. He was so going to die. Opening his eyes again, he looked to the Nutcracker and Rebels. Kendall was holding onto Carlos' hand tightly as they drew in the ground, a plan or something he guessed. For a reason he didn't know, that annoyed Logan. They weren't even acknowledging him, weren't even asking him for his thoughts, like he was just some scared little boy. Granted, he was terrified beyond belief right now but he was smart. He's read books, watched movies, he knows a thing or two about planning. I bet none of them have even seen Pirates of the Caribbean.

Logan looked away from them. He needed to think himself. And then Logan saw them. It was the snow fairies and Saba -Katie and Tyler's horse and carriage! The fairies were freezing over the ocean and Saba was just waiting for someone to hop in her carriage. Without thinking, Logan got up and ran for Saba. He had his own plan.

Carlos looked over his shoulder for a moment to make sure Logan was doing okay but he wasn't there. Looking around with frantic eyes, he found the boy running towards a carriage as the ocean turned to ice.

"Guys, what's Logan doing?" That made Kendall and James stop bickering and look to where Logan was.

"No, Loges!" James yelled, getting up and running for him. How could Logan do something so stupid? He was smarter than this, he should have waited until they had figured something else out. James could hear Carlos and Kendall close behind and the ground shook with every step the rock man took.

Logan jumped in the front of the carriage, taking the reigns. He whistled for some of the fairies and they came quickly. He pointed to the rock man and they knew what to do, flying towards it in a rush as Logan slapped the reigns and guided Saba to the others who were running towards him.

They jumped in the carriage when Logan stopped it in front of them. James sat in the front with Logan and Carlos and Kendall took the back.

"What do you think you're doing? You could get yourself killed? Give me those reigns!" James yelled at him, trying to take the reigns from him. Logan pushed him away with a grunt as he slapped the reigns again. Saba galloped faster towards the now fully frozen ocean. After a minute, Logan stopped the horse, ignoring the yells of the others. He looked over at the rock man, he was frozen in mid-step not that far behind them. The fairies did a good job.

"Will you just shut the hell up for a minute please?" Logan shouted at them because they were still yelling at him for stopping and they need to keep going. "I'm trying to think!" They all fell silent, watching as Logan ran his fingers through his hair as he tried to think. He had to hit with something for it to break. But it was too far away and would he be able to hit it hard enough? Maybe if he threw something at it with enough force, that might work. He looked around the carriage to find something to throw and then he saw the sling shot on Carlos' belt. He smiled, "Carlos, I need you to do something."

They all saw something in Logan then. Something they hadn't expected at all. Carlos smiled and stood up, "What do you need?"

"Use your sling shot to hit him in the chest, okay?" Logan asked. Carlos nodded, grabbing his sling shot from his belt and pulling out one of the pebbles he kept in a little bag attached to his belt. He pulled the pebble back with the sling shot, angling it for the centre of the rock man's chest. "Try to hit it as hard as you can. The harder, the better, okay?" Carlos nodded, took a deep breath and fired. He lowered the sling shot as he watched the pebble hit the rock man and it fell to pieces on the ice. They all cheered for a moment as Carlos put the sling shot on his belt again.

"Nice shooting, Carlos." Kendall grinned, kissing his cheek.

"Great aim." James said, smiling. Logan sighed, of course they would congratulate Carlos. He sat down on the bench and took hold of the reigns, ready to ride them away from here. But then he felt a weight on his shoulder, he turned his head to see a wooden hand and looked up, seeing three smiling faces.

"That was really quick thinking, Logan." Kendall said, giving him a pat on the back before sitting down.

"You practically saved our lives." Carlos grinned, repeating Kendall's actions. James didn't say anything, just smiled and in Logan's opinion, that was better.

…

The rat man that the King had sent to watch over the rock man as it destroyed the Nutcracker reported back to his King, terrified for what was going to happen. The King listened to his story about how the human boy he made small was the one who devised the plan that destroyed the rock man, it was his fault the King's plans were ruined. And it angered him more and more.

This boy was a much bigger problem than he had intended. He didn't bother inflicting pain on the rat man -just dismissed him- he didn't have time. He had to think of a plan to destroy this boy. But he didn't know anything about him. He wanted the boy to suffer, he wanted to cause him pain. But maybe physical pain wasn't the way to go. After all, emotional pain can hurt a whole lot worse sometimes. And maybe the emotional pain will bring the boy to him.

Doesn't this boy have a younger brother?

The Rat King grinned as a plan formed.

…

Carlos and Kendall were asleep in the back as James and Logan drove the carriage to where they were headed. Logan didn't know where exactly they were going so he let James take over and they had seen land not too long into the ride and James was taking them towards it. They were silent, no one really said anything after what had happened, the Rebels fell asleep only ten minutes after and they had been riding for at least an hour now.

"You know," James said, breaking the silence. "You were the last person I expected to do something like that, Loges."

"It was probably just the adrenaline." Logan said with a sheepish green as he played with the buttons on his vest. It was then he realised that he's been running around barefoot since he showed up here, still dressed in the clothes he was in before. He laughed.

"What's so funny?" James asked, grinning at the boy.

"If my mother saw the dirt I'm covered in, she'd have a heart attack." He laughed harder when another thought came to mind. "If Mrs. Wainwright saw me, she'd hose me down on the spot." It wasn't funny, really, but it was just such a ridiculous and _normal _thought that comforted him after everything that has happened so far.

James chuckled, "Mrs. Wainwright sounds like quite a woman."

Logan smiled, "Oh she's the best. She's like my grandma. She's been working for us my whole life and she always lets me bake cookies or cupcakes with her. We built a gingerbread house the day I got you. It's probably gone now. No doubt that Donovan sneaked down in the middle of the night with an apatite." Logan's eyes widened as a realisation hit. "Oh my god, I missed Christmas! My parents will be wondering where I am, they'll be freaking out!"

"Don't panic," James said, grin in place. "Time moves faster here than it does in your world. It's nowhere near morning in your home."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Don't question it. Now, tell me more about your life."

"Okay, if you tell me about yours." Logan challenged. James sighed, he should have seen that coming sooner or later.

"What do you want to know?"

"Where are your parents?" Logan asked. "If you're a Prince, that means you have parents who are King or Queen, so where are they?"

"My mother died giving birth to me and my father died a couple of weeks before the Rat King took over. He was deathly ill and he didn't last very long. My coronation was coming soon but the idea of being King and having to take care of all those people scared me so my adviser -the rat- said I should take a short trip to clear my head. I thought that was a great idea at the time, not realising what he was doing. He tricked me."

"Are you still scared to be King?" Logan asked, subconsciously sliding closer to the Nutcracker.

"No." James shook his head. "I'm ready, I know I'll be able to take care of my people and restore happiness back into their lives. I just need to get my throne back."

"And you need the Strong One to do it." Logan finished.

James nodded, "Exactly. And maybe he can make me human again. Not to brag or anything but I was pretty handsome when I was human."

Logan laughed, "I'm sure you were." There was a moment of silence before Logan sighed, "You know, I've always dreamed of meeting a prince."

If James had the ability to, he'd raise an eyebrow, "Really?"

"Yeah." Logan nodded. "Aunt Nicole talked about meeting royalty all the time, how she danced with so many handsome princes and I was always so jealous. I want to dance with a prince in a palace. She invited me to leave with her on Boxing Day and I wanted to go, but now, I'm not so sure."

"Why not?"

"You've seen the way I've reacted to this whole thing. I've been non-stopped scared and I don't think I can live like that."

"You weren't scared earlier." James said, smile on his face. "In fact, you were incredibly brave."

Logan smiled, "Thanks."

…

It didn't take them long to get to the piece of land they found, which turned out to be a small town with a castle on a hill, not that far in the distance. When James saw it, he silently panicked. Kendall and Carlos didn't notice but Logan did.

"What's wrong?" Logan asked him quietly as Kendall paid the man who tended the docks to look after their carriage. A lot of people were a little weirded out when they saw four men in a carriage come strolling through on the frozen ocean.

"That's my castle, well... _Was. _Now it's the Rat King's." James explained, pointing to the castle. "What if he sees me?"

"He won't see you, just... Lay low." Logan advised. By now, Carlos and Kendall had joined them.

"I'm a man made out of wood, how can I lay low." Carlos grinned when he saw that someone left a dark cape on a bar by the docks.

"Wait here." He said. With a subtle whistle, Carlos walked towards the cape. With a friendly smile and a nod to someone who walked past, he grabbed the cape and made his way back to the others. "Put this on." James did and pulled the hood over his head. "There, now you can barely tell you're a Nutcracker."

"Thanks, Carlos." James smiled. "Now lets go."

As they walked into the town, they noticed the streets were pretty empty until they arrived at the town centre where almost everyone was gathered around a small stage with a podium. They pushed their way so they were close enough to see what was going on but the stage was empty.

Kendall turned to a random woman next to him, "What's going on?" He asked.

"The Rat King said he has an announcement to make." She said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"What could he have to say that's so important?" James muttered. Kendall grabbed Carlos' hand and pulled him closer, not wanting to lose him.

"I don't know but it must be pretty important." Carlos said quietly. Just then, the Rat King walked onto the stage with a smile, standing in front of the podium ready to give his speech.

"Good afternoon everybody." He said in an overly cheery voice. It creeped Logan out, sending a shiver down his back as he subconsciously stepped closer to James, who gripped his hand when he was close enough. Logan shouldn't have blushed but he did. "Now, you're all probably wondering why I asked you all to come out here today but I have someone to introduce to you! A new member of the family if you will."

"A new member of the family?" Kendall said, scrunching his nose in disgust. "Who'd want to make babies with him?" Carlos chuckled, giving Kendall's shoulder a kiss.

"You will address him as 'Your Highness'." The Rat King continued. With a somewhat creepy smile, the Rat King turned to face the back of the stage where a small boy with dark curls, chocolate brown eyes and dimples was walking up the steps. He looked like a small Logan, and there was a reason for that. Logan's eyes widened in shock as he stood next to the Rat King with that same annoying smirk that always made Logan want to hit him "Say hello to your new Prince; Donovan Mitchell."

**You guys remember Donovan right? Logan's annoying little brother who broke the Nutcracker's arm? Yeah, that's him! He made a reappearance! I'm starting to enjoy where this is going now!:D**

**Okay so I've decided I want to make reviewing a little more fun for you guys so at the end of every chapter, I'm going to ask you guys a question and you have to answer it in your reviews! Okay? Let's start with some easy; Werewolves or vampires?**


	7. The Stable Boy

**For those of you who said werewolves, you're all awesome! For those of you who chose vampires, you're awesome too! But I personally choose werewolves!**

**I don't really have any words to say here so why don't we just go straight to the thank yous! Thank you guys for reviewing and stuff and even the silent readers, thanks for taking time out of your life to read my words:)**

**Now, on with the chapter...**

…

"_No_!" Logan screamed as he ran towards the stage. The Nutcracker grabbed his arm to keep him back but Logan quickly shook him off. The crowed parted as he ran, stopping just a few feet in front of the stage. Donovan looked down at his older brother, arms crossed with a smug grin playing at his lips. It was remarkable how much he looked like Logan; the same dimples, the same crooked smile, the same hair colour, even the same brown eyes. They're only differences is in their noses, Logan's being a little crooked from where he was punched by the kids at school when he was younger. "_Let him go!_" There was whispering and muttering in the crowd that was only silenced when the Rat King laughed mockingly.

"Fine, fine." The King said with a chuckle. "Donovan, you are free to go."

Donovan didn't move, his grin only widened into a full on smile. "Thanks but uh, I'm good here with you."

Logan's eyes widened in horror. Was his brother that idiotic to know what was going on around him? Or did he understand completely and was just that evil? The first option seemed a little more likely.

"Donovan, what are you doing?" Logan yelled at his little brother. By this time, the rebels and James had stepped up behind him. The Nutcracker standing close behind Logan so the King wouldn't have a clear view of him.

"I'm being a damn prince!" Donovan said, smiling widely. Logan had to stop himself from reminding his brother that he wasn't allowed to use words like that. "What the hell are you doing?" Logan _hated _that smile on his face. It was the same one he wore whenever Logan was getting yelled at by their father or mother for something he had done wrong again before saying "Why can't you be more like your brother? And you're supposed to be the one setting an example, being the oldest."

But -being the good older brother he was- he ignored that and tried to help his brother.

"Don't you know who he _is_?" Logan said, pointing a finger at the King. "Don't you know what he's _done_?"

"He's a king, it doesn't matter what he's done." Was Donovan's reply that only infuriated Logan more.

"Yes!" Logan said. "It does!"

Donovan scoffed, "Whatever."

Oh how Logan hated his brother sometimes. Why was he trying to get the brat back, again? Oh right. Mom will kill him if he let's his little brother get kidnapped by some stupid Rat King. "I swear to God, if you don't get down here, I'll-"

"You'll what?" Donovan sneered. "You'll tell mom and dad on me?"

Logan gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, trying to stay calm and not lash out.

"Logan," Carlos quietly said from behind him. "Who is he?"

Great, now he had to tell these people that he was related to that brat. With a sigh, he quietly said "My brother." Raising his voice loud enough for Donovan to hear, he said, "Don't you see that he's the damn bad guy?"

"Bad guy?" Donovan scoffed. "This isn't a fairy tale land, Logan."

"There's fairies, real life nutcrackers and men who look like rats. Of course it's freakin' fairy tale land, you idiot!"

Donovan's face went bright red, the way it did whenever he got angry. "Don't call me that! I'm a prince now! You can't call me that or I'll have you beheaded!"

"Beheaded? Seriously?" Logan said. "Mom will behead you _herself _if you went home with just my head in your hands."

"Well, I won't tell her then!"

"I'm her eldest son, I think she'll notice that I wasn't around!"

"Who says I'm going home, anyway?"

"I say! Even if I have to drag you there!"

"You can't do that! Dad says you're not allowed to touch me!"

"Dad also says you can't go in my room and you do _that_!"

"That's different!"

"How is it diff-"

"Why do you need the kid?" Kendall called out at the Rat King, interrupting the bickering that made him want to pull out his sword and just kill someone. Why did Carlos want kids, again? They weren't cute.

"Well," The King said, taking a step forward and wrapping a fatherly arm around Donovan. "Everyone needs family."

"Did your ancient mother finally die?" Carlos muttered, more to himself than to anyone else. But everyone heard. Kendall chuckled but the King did _not _look amused.

"Carlos, I see your taste in men has lowered considerably." The Rat King said. "Are you just settling with anything you can get now?"

Kendall's fists clenched at the insult but Carlos, not wanting the Rat to see how much that angered him, he grinned and said "Wow, you're really going to throw out that lame-ass insult? You know, you were never that good at that kind of thing. I remember how the kids called walk all over you, you were such a pushover."

The Rat King smiled a grim smile. "Yes, well. At least its nice to see your infatuation for Prince James has gone." He knew he had hit a nerve by the look on the rebel's face. It hit Kendall and the Nutcracker deeply too. "It was always amusing to watch how you would fawn over him and he didn't even have a clue. At least you learned your lesson; never fall in love with a prince."

Logan saw the look on his friends' faces, how that little piece of information had hit them all hard, so he quickly changed the subject. "Donovan, just get down here. We're going home."

"You go home." He said. "I'm staying here,"

"Don't force the boy to do anything he doesn't want to do." The Rat King grinned, shaking the kid's shoulders.

"_Donovan, get down here_!" Logan yelled through gritted teeth as he took a step forward, forgetting the fact that James was hiding behind him.

The King's eyes widened. "The Nutcracker." He said, before his voice raised, shouting "Guards! Seize him!"

"We have to get out of here." Kendall said. James grabbed Logan's hand as they all started running off to the opposite direction of the stage. Carlos noticed how, for once, Kendall didn't grab his hand before making a run for it. The people who made up the crowed parted as the four misfits were chased by the royal guards.

"Where are we going?" Logan yelled as they all followed Kendall to whatever direction he went. No one answered him, just kept running. Looking over his shoulder, Logan saw at least twenty Rat Men in black, holding swords up high as they chased. The streets were still empty so they didn't have to worry about bumping into anyone. As they turned a corner, James saw an open door.

"Quick, in here." He pulled Logan inside, Kendall and Carlos following close behind and slamming the beat up, wooden door shut behind them. The two rebels looked through the small gaps between the wooden pieces and watched as the royal guards ran right passed them. None of them said anything for a moment as they caught their breath from the long run. James was the first to recover, walking around to discover where they had run. "It looks like we're at the library or a book store."

Looking around, Logan smiled. It was just a small little place, with bookshelves making up the walls, filled with old leather bound books. He pulled a random book off a shelf, the corners and edges were frayed from the years and years of use. The pages were a dirty yellow and it smelled of grass, vanilla and a little bit like cigarette smoke. He smiled as he closed the book and put it back where he found it.

Kendall groaned, "I hate the smell of books. It's gross."

"You hate books in general." Carlos said with a playful smirk. Usually, Kendall would chuckle and playfully shove him but this time, he just closed the shutters on the windows as James lit a candle with a box of matches he found in the drawer of the desk that sat in the middle of the room.

Carlos was hurt but that was the last thing he needed to worry about right now. So he pulled the chair from behind the desk and pushed it against the door and under the handle to keep people out.

"So what do we do now?" Logan asked as he sat on the desk.

"We wait here until morning and then we head out and try to find the Strong One." Carlos said, sitting on the chair.

"Are we even anywhere near this damn Strong One?" Kendall snapped.

"He's on the beach." James said, as if the rebel hadn't just practically screamed at him. Kendall sighed, sitting in the far corner of the room, running a hand through his hair.

…**.**

A few hours later, Kendall still hadn't move from where he was. Logan sat in the opposite corner, curled up with a book. James sat next him, resting his head on Logan's shoulder as he tried to doze off.

"Read to me." James whispered as Logan turned a page.

"You don't even know what's going on, though." Logan said and James could hear the smirk in his voice.

"I don't care, I just need something to put me to sleep."

There was a long pause before Logan shut the book and quietly said, "Did you know Carlos was in love with you?"

James sighed, "Yeah, I did."

"And you never loved him back?"

"No, he was like my best friend -my brother." James answered, keeping his voice low so the other two in the room couldn't hear them. "I never saw him like that and even if I did, I wouldn't have tried anything because I wouldn't want to lose him. Like I said, he's my brother."

"It must suck for you- spending all this time with him and he thinks you're someone else." Logan said and James nodded in response.

"Yeah, it does." He sighed. He shifted a little, changing positions a few times before he ended up with his wooden head back on Logan's shoulder. "Now, read to me." Logan smiled as he opened the book and read James to sleep.

Carlos sat on the desk, watching as Kendall tried to sleep but he knew the blonde could never sleep if he was angry or upset and it was obvious since what the Rat King had said, Kendall's mood was a little off.

Maybe Carlos just needed to talk to him.

Deciding that that was the best option, he pushed himself off the desk and sat in front of Kendall with his legs crossed.

"Kendall?" He said quietly, not wanting Logan or Jay to hear. Kendall didn't even move, just pretended to sleep. "I know you're awake." Nothing. "Kendall, please don't ignore me."

With a sigh, Kendall opened his eyes and sat up a little to look at Carlos. "What do you want?" His voice was empty, emotionless. Nothing like the soft tone he always used when he talked to his lover. To say it didn't hurt Carlos just a little would be a lie.

"Talk to me, what's wrong?" He quietly pleaded.

Kendall sighed and looked down at his lap. A few moments went by before the rebel finally answered. "You know, I always knew you had a thing for the prince."

Carlos sighed, "Kendall, please don't do this. That was years ago. It was a small crush, it didn't mean anything. I love _you_."

Kendall shook his head, "It wasn't a crush, Carlos. You would have done anything for him. You would have taken a sword to the chest for him. And I would always do the same for you, but you barely looked at me twice."

"Kendall-"

"You loved him so much." Kendall interrupted and Carlos didn't miss the way his voice cracked. "You loved him and I saw how much it hurt you because he only ever saw you as a best friend- a brother. You didn't realise that if you just looked passed his good looks and who he was, you'd see the skinny stable boy who was so head over heels in love with you, who would travel the ends of the Earth if it meant he would find you in the end. You were so perfect in my eyes -hell, you still are. Always so full of life and happiness. You never saw the way I looked at you, because you were always looking at him." He wiped away the single tear that fell down his cheek. Carlos' heart was breaking. "And sometimes, it hurts so bad to know that you only settled for me because the Prince was gone and you were heartbroken. And I was there. We kind of just, ran away together after we realised the Rat had taken over. We accomplished so much together; we created all of that in the trees, helped so many people, recruited so many men to rebel against the King with us. We did all of that- together. But you still talk about him. You talk about him and I know you still love him and it hurts so bad to know that I will never be good enough, I will always be second best in your eyes. Because I'll always be the stable boy and he's a Prince. Everyone loves the Prince."

"Where's all this coming from?" Carlos hated how pathetic his voice sounded as a lump formed in his throat and tears stung his eyes.

Kendall looked up at him then, their eyes locking. "I bet you can't even look me in the eye and tell me you don't still love him."

Carlos can honestly say he loves Kendall. But he can't honestly say he doesn't still love Prince James as well.

Kendall shook his head when Carlos didn't answer and looked away as the tears fell freely down his cheeks.

"I love you, Kendall." Carlos said, grabbing the blonde's hands in his own and holding them to his chest. Kendall wasn't the only one who was crying now. "Honestly, Kendall, I do! I love you so much, please don't be like this."

Kendall didn't say anything, just pulled his hands away and looked at the books, avoiding eye contact. "Kendall, please." Carlos whispered as he cried. But Kendall didn't respond. Silently, the Latino got up and crawled under the desk where he could cry in privacy.

How had this happened?

**I have no idea where that Kenlos sadness came from but I am beyond happy with it! But are yooooooooooooooou happy with it? You should totally review and tell me!**

**Question time!: If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?**

**(My answer: I wouldn't be able to choose between brownies and popcorn and chips- Or fries if your American! But I'm English so it's chips!)**


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